Reincarnation
by Spencers13
Summary: After Knight Rider...after KR 2000...and during TKR, some new faces pop up. A possible new team member? What happened to Michael? Who is the strange guy in the basement?
1. Chapter One: A Strange New Discovery

DISCLAIMER: I'd like to say that I don't own Knight Rider or Team Knight Rider or anything related to them, save a model car and a board game. I do, however, own Keri, Damien Steele, Ray the technician, the cars' holograms idea, and Elliot. Please don't sue me because I barely have enough money to pay bills as it is. If you'd like to use any of my ideas, please feel free to, just tell me so I can read it when you're done. ^_^

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

KITT stands for the "Knight Industries Two Thousand"  
KARR stands for the "Knight Automated Roving Robot"  
CPU stands for "Central Processing Unit"  
(Of course you all knew those three.)

The miles are not accurate  
The towns were randomly picked from an atlas  
The dates and times were randomly picked (I made it 2015 because of K.R. 2000 and a suitable time lapse)  
_Italic sentences stand for someone's thought, or a car's speech.  
Italic words_ stand for a stressed word.

I really hope you enjoy my story and please e-mail your questions or comments to me at Spencers13@yahoo.com.

Originally written in 1998 by Lacey Gilpin.  
Edited and revised in 2002 by Lacey Gilbert (married name).

Reincarnation  
By Lacey Gilpin

A JUNK YARD IN EDGEWOOD, CALIFORNIA  
5 P.M. SUNDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2015

Keri walked through the old junk yard like she did every Sunday. She was looking for what she usually was: something neat that she could somehow make work perfectly again. She stumbled between the mountains of rusted cars and steel, and came upon an old faded, black car, which she identified as a Trans Am. It was sitting out in the open, away from every thing else, which was kind of odd considering that every thing was crushed, and then pushed together to form mountains of metal.

The car was stripped of all the major things. The wheels were missing, as were the seats and other upholstery. One window was slightly cracked at the top, and she saw some bees enter and exit through the space. Keri circled the car a few times, and was just ready to leave when she noticed a groove cut dead center in the front. She bent down and peered into it and saw what looked like a light contraption. It appeared the light could, if lit up, glide back and forth on the track. She was wondering why it was there when she was attacked from behind.

Quickly, she flipped herself around to see her attacker. It was the crazy old man that lived in the junk yard. She grabbed him, flipped him over and pinned him to the ground. 

"What do you think you're doing, you old fool?!" she cried.

"What did you think _you_ were doing, young missy?" the old man replied in a crazily cracked voice. "That's my car and I'd be thankin' you to stay away from it!"

Keri acted quickly. She picked up the man and flipped him over her head, slamming him on the ground behind her. Dust flew up from his dirty trench coat and off of the ground where he hit. He quickly got up, tears welling up in his eyes from the stinging dust and the sharp pain coursing through his back.

"You little wench!" he cried.

"Stay away from here, old man! And stay away from me!" she yelled back, not to be outdone. When the man approached her again, she took a swing and cracked him right in the nose. Blood began pouring out as he cupped it in his hand and backed away.

Keri gave him a threatening look and took a step forward. The old man jerked and ran in the opposite direction, afraid of another confrontation.

__

Old fool, she thought, turning away to look at the car he had been so ready to protect. _This thing looks to be in pretty good condition. Maybe I can get it back to my house. I'd like to see if I can fix it up. I could cruise around town in it, just like the good old days. But if I'm going to get this thing out of here, I'd better find some wheels._ With that thought, Keri trudged off deep into the junk yard, in search of four tires. 

She didn't realize it at the time, but behind her the small slot in the front of the car came alive with a red light. It streaked back and forth a couple of times as if looking around, and then was gone again. 

* * * * *

An hour later, Keri returned lugging two tires, one under each arm. She threw them to the ground in front of the dusty black auto. Sighing and placing her hands on her hips, she gave the car the once-over she had neglected to give it before. 

"Hey, this thing definitely isn't as bad as I thought. There isn't a scratch on it, which surprises me! And all it really needs is seats now." She walked over to the door and opened it. Kneeling down, she peered inside and saw an incredibly decked out dash board. "Wow, where were _you_ two years ago?" She asked the car, running her hand along the sleek yet dust-covered black dashboard. "I could have certainly used you as one of my cruise cars." She stood up and shut the door with a clunk. _I'd better get moving if I want to get this thing home by nightfall_, she thought. 

Again, she trekked off into the junk yard to find the other two tires she needed.

After another two hours, Keri was putting the finishing touches on the seat she had just installed. It was torn, stained, and smelled of oil, but it were all she needed until she got the car home. The car no longer sat on four cinder blocks, but stood of four well-worn mismatched wheels.

"Okay," she said. "Let's go home. It's getting late." She climbed into the musty smelling car and reached for the ignition switch. "Hey! There's no key!" she exclaimed, making the discovery. "And there's no ignition either. What's going on here?" 

Looking at the dash more carefully, Keri spotted a small red button, surrounded by other multicolored buttons, below and to the right of the steering wheel. Above the button was the word "Ignition" staring her straight in the face. "Stupid," she said to herself, pushing the button. 

Suddenly the car came alive with winking lights and blips! The engine roared with a high-pitched turbine whine and became increasingly louder. 

"Wow, this car packs a punch!" said Keri. She tapped on the gas pedal and was off.

* * * * *

She took it easy going home. She wasn't sure it would stay together, but as she pulled into her driveway she found the dusty black car to be a lot more than she thought. Glancing at the buttons on the console, she noticed one that read "Turbo Booster". 

"I wonder what that one does?" she thought aloud as she depressed the button. It lit up for a split second, and then she heard and felt an enormous rush of compressed air being jettisoned beneath her. The car suddenly jerked and shot up into the air, straight toward her closed garage door! With the sound of screeching metal and tearing plastic, the car flew at an angle down into the door and tore it from its hinges, breaking it into a multitude of small pieces!

When the dust cleared, Keri slowly opened the door and stepped out into the wreckage. 

"Damn," she whispered. Luckily, her closest neighbor lived a mile away. The crash would have woken no one. She looked at the shattered pieces of door scattered on the floor and wrapped around her new car. 

"Oh, great," she said to herself, "Not only do I break down my own garage door, but I wreck my cool new car in the process." 

Slowly, she began to pick up the pieces on the floor and throw them on the junk pile she kept outside. When she had all the pieces picked up, she tried to move the one piece of metal still wrapped around the front end of the car. She grabbed the edge and pulled as hard as she could. It came off with an ear-piercing screech and clanged to the floor. Just as she picked up the piece and began to drag it away, she looked at the car where the metal door had just been. The car didn't have a scratch on it! Not one!

"Something weird is going on here," she said aloud as she ran her fingers over the nose of the sleek auto. But Keri was tired, and didn't feel like frying her brain over it tonight. _I'll play with it in the morning_, she thought, and dragged the metal strip out to the junk pile.


	2. Chapter Two: Amazing Technology

Chapter 2: Amazing Technology  
  
  
  
The next morning, Keri woke up to the sound of her annoying alarm clock chirping in her ear. She slapped the 'snooze' button angrily, not wanting to be awake now. Slowly, but surely, she did waken, though. She staggered to the bathroom, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Turning on the shower and grabbing a washcloth, Keri stepped into the bathtub and an invigorating stream of hot water. 

As she was washing, she couldn't help but think about the strange car now sitting in her dilapidated garage. 

__

I wonder where it came from? she thought. _Even though it's 2015, cars are still not THAT advanced._

Most of the governments declared over 10 years ago, that money that used to be put towards making newer and better cars would be diverted to other more important funds, like education and that Foundation. 

__

What was that place called again? she thought. _The Foundation of Law or Government? Yeah, something like that._ But she had never seen such a decked-out car before. One that jumps at the push of a button? _I wonder who made it and why? And why did they leave it in the city junk yard for anyone to get a hold of?_ Her head was teeming with questions, but, unfortunately, no one could answer her.

She shut off the water, toweled herself dry, and put clean clothes on. She went downstairs and began to prepare breakfast. Although Keri was in her mid-twenties, she lived alone in a large, old-fashioned house, the kind you might have seen in the 1950's. 

She loved old things. Every time she saw something from before the turn of the century, she had to have it. And with the job she had, restoring old junk and selling it at outrageous prices, she could afford to have the old place. Keri could fix anything with wires or gears, and as long as people loved old junk and bought it no matter what the price was, it would only fuel her ambition to go out and get more. The junk yard was the perfect place to find the old things she loved. But now that she found this strange old car, she considered taking a vacation to restore it. The more she thought about it, the better she liked it.

"I'll do it," she said aloud, stuffing her face with syrupy pancakes, "I'll take a vacation and fix that old car."

After finishing off the pancakes and washing the dishes, she picked up her dirty gray working jacket and put it on. She opened the front door and made her way to the garage and the car.

"Okay, car, let's see what's under your hood, and then see if I can fix it." She popped the hood and took a look inside. "A turbine engine? No wonder this thing packed a punch!" she said, remembering the evening before when she first started the machine up.

"Wow, look at this! A computer CPU! I'll bet this is what controls all those buttons in the cab." She reached inside and pulled some wires away from the CPU and then wrenched it loose from its platform.

"Some of these chips are for memory. Hmm... they're moldy and chewed through," said Keri taking a closer look. "But I'll bet I can download these memory chips into new ones and then replace them on the motherboard." 

She set to work on the chips, and in less than twenty minutes, had the new chips loaded with the old software installed successfully on the motherboard.

"Hmm... everything else looks fine to me," she said. She placed the component back into its platform and began to secure it and place the wires back into it. An extra wire and an extra socket in the component was left over. Shrugging, Keri placed the wire into its socket and was rewarded by a shower of sparks and a jolt. "Whoa! _Everything_ in this car packs a punch!"

She scanned the powerful engine again and spotted a rather large rat's nest located near the fan belt. "You're gone." She grabbed her shop vac, plugged it in, and began to suck out the dust, debris, and especially that rat's nest from the engine.

She did not hear it, but under the loud noise of the shop vac the car spoke to her!

"_Hello? Is anyone there? Michael?_" The car spoke with a very noticeable, male Boston accent, and seemed a bit confused. However, Keri could not hear a word it said. "_Switching to internal voice mode_," the car stated under the vacuum. Perhaps it would be best if this human did not know that he could talk quite yet.

Turning off the vacuum, Keri noticed that a wire was loose from the light contraption that protruded from the slot in the hood. She reached in and pushed it into place. She heard a slight humming noise as if power had been fully restored to the light, and a red glow glided back and forth along the track. Inside the car, the monitor on the curved dash suddenly sizzled with snow, then came to life. On the screen was a blurry form, which soon came into focus. It was the bottom half of Keri's body jammed uncomfortably close in the monitor. 

"_Oh great_," the car muttered inside the cab, so as not to attract attention, "_It figures. As soon as I get my eyes back in focus, the first thing is see is a crotch._" Just then, Keri bent down and stared the scanner right in the eye... so to speak. "_Wow... I guess that's not Michael. She's a lot prettier than he is. I should ask her where I am, but I'm not sure she can be trusted yet._"

This car had a habit of talking to himself. 

Satisfied, for the time being, that the light was just a light, Keri stood up and slammed the hood shut. There was nothing else to fix under there. Now, she had to check out the inside of the car. Just as she was about to open the door, the monitor shut itself off. She pulled up the latch, opened the door, and sat down on the grimy seat. Glancing below the dash, she noticed there were no protruding wires or circuits. She bent down and took a closer look. There were two black panels, held on by screws, on the driver and passenger sides. Apparently, they were holding all the wires back. Keri scrounged around for a screwdriver and removed the panel on the driver's side, one screw at a time. When the panel fell away, so did hundreds of thin multi-colored wires and connectors. 

"Oh man! How am I going to make heads or tails out of this mess?" she complained. Actually, all the wires were where they were supposed to be, except for a few that were chewed off or broken. She noticed the damaged wires and told herself that's all she'd touch. She grabbed some electrical tape and began to patch together the broken wires. Occasionally, sparks flew but that was all. As she was patching up, she noticed that a few indicator lights on the dash that had not been lit up before had now come to life. 

__

At least, I'm actually fixing it, she thought. When she was done with the wires, she replaced the black panel and then moved over to the passenger side. She went through the same procedure and fixed a few wires. 

When she finally stood up, Keri realized she was rather hungry. Looking at the dash again, she saw that nearly all the indicator lights were now lit up and blinking with life.

"Well, I guess that's it. I'm going to get something to eat, and then I'll come back to see if there's anything I missed. I think I got everything, though," she told the car. She left the garage and returned to the house.

The lonely, dusty black car sat in the middle of the garage. "_I do hope she returns soon. After being alone for who knows how long, you tend to want company. I have to thank her for repairing my systems too. Perhaps she can help me find Michael._" 

A half hour later, Keri returned to the garage still wearing the grimy gray work jacket. She leaned against the car staring at the counter that held an assortment of objects. Her eyes fell upon a device that she had put together several months earlier. A holographic projector. She walked over and picked it up. The device began to hum when she pressed a button on it. Then, five feet away a form appeared and stood before her. 

"Chris..." she whispered in a sad small voice. She deactivated the hologram and looked at the car. _Why not?_ she thought. _This thing has just about everything else. Why not one more thing?_

Keri popped the hood once again and began to install the projector. Hours ticked slowly away as she tried and retried to install the tangled pile of metal and wires. As nightfall came, she totally forgot about sleep. She was getting tired, but refused to stop until she successfully installed the unit. 

Finally, at five P.M. the next day, Keri connected the last wire to the car's CPU. The projector came alive with a slight hum and lights blinked from within. A slight smile hovered on her tired face as she collapsed onto the cold, concrete floor.

"_Oh dear!_" the car said, worried. "_Are you all right? ... Hello? ... Young lady?_" The car tried over and over to wake the fallen girl, but failed. He even resorted to honking the horn, but that didn't work either. "_What is that device she installed into me, anyway?_" said the car, hoping it would be something that could help. He accessed the device and activated it. 

Opening his eyes, the man looked around the room. "What a strange sensation," he said. He turned around and looked at the black car in front of him. "_Incredible!_ Talk about an out of body experience!" the man exclaimed. He was actually the car in a holographic form! 

He enjoyed being human for a while, walking, running, jumping, skipping, rolling in the grass; all the things he had never been able to do. And he could actually feel it! He felt the grass under his feet, and when he rolled in it, he smelled the dirt under his nose and felt the spray of water from the sprinkling system in the side yard. His joy was soon over, though, when he returned to the garage and saw that Keri was still lying unconscious on the floor.

"The poor woman. I've got to help her. She exhausted herself giving me this wonderful experience!" The man knelt beside her and brushed her long, golden hair away from her eyes. 

__

She is_ pretty_, he thought._ I wonder... _He reached down and placed his arms under her back and behind her knees. It worked. Apparently, not only was he now a hologram of a human being, but he was a solid hologram; not one of those run-of-the-mill light projections only.

Carefully, he picked her up and moved toward the driver's side of his original body. Amazingly he was still in control of it, because when he thought of opening the door, it opened. He placed Keri's still form into the driver's seat and tried to make her as comfortable as possible. He found an old torn blanket in the corner of the garage and draped it over her, since it was a little chilly out. The man deduced it was in the early fall of the year. Although of what year he didn't know.

"She'll be hungry when she wakes up. I'll go prepare something for her to eat." The man walked toward the house, but the farther away from the garage he walked, the more unstable he became. His form began to flicker and waver as if he was the screen of a television that was having bad reception. 

"The projector must have a limited range of twenty-five to thirty feet. I guess if I'm going to go into the house, I've got to get the projector a little closer." the man/car reasoned. 

Without moving, the man looked at his former form, and its engine started and revved up. The car backed slowly out of the garage and pulled up beside the front porch. The hologram walked up the stairs, opened the door, and, eventually, found the kitchen. He made a sandwich that looked relatively good and brought it out to Keri. She was still asleep on the seat, exhausted from installing the projector. 

"I guess she doesn't want this right now," the handsome blonde haired, blue eyed hologram said. He placed the sandwich in the passenger side of the car. "Well, I don't need to stand around and wait for her to wake up. I'll deactivate the hologram until she does." The man's form flickered and wavered, then vanished completely. The car's engine started again, and he returned to the garage. Inside, the car parked, shut off its engine, and patiently waited for Keri to wake up.


	3. Chapter Three: Harsh Feelings

Chapter 3: Harsh Feelings  
  


Several hundred miles away in Arizona, four people sat around a circular table in a darkened room. They didn't speak and shifted nervously in their chairs. Behind them a mechanical door with an upside-down triangular symbol slid open and a well built blond man strode into the room. He had a folder under his arm and placed it on the table as he sat down in his seat.

He looked at each person seated around the table. There were two women, a short-haired blonde and a long-haired brunette. There were also two men, one was rather young with brown hair down to just above his shoulders. The other was a muscular black man with a five o'clock shadow. They all wore the same blue jumper suits and they all fidgeted in their seats, waiting for the news their leader brought. 

"I've got some bad news, I'm afraid." He spoke with a striking, slightly deep voice. "The first ever prototype CPU for our cars has been stolen." Murmurs swept through the room. "We don't know who did it, or why, but we have a rough estimate of the time, somewhere between now and two weeks ago."

"_Two weeks?!_" exclaimed the one girl, ruffling her blond hair in frustration. "You mean to tell me that that thing was stolen two weeks ago and we didn't find out till now?!"

"Well, think about it, Erica," said the younger of the men. "You keep an old CPU that went crazy in an old, crapped up warehouse in the middle of nowhere, and it can't just get up and walk away on a couple of wires, you know. We don't need that much security. So apparently, someone learned of the prototype and wanted it pretty badly."

Erica scowled at the man for making her feel dumb, "You think your _sooo_ smart, don't you, Trek?" she said sarcastically. Trek placed a wad of gum in his mouth and began to chew it annoyingly. "_Oooh_, I want to kill him," she said under her breath.

"Now calm down, you two," said their leader, gazing at the others. "We have to find out who took it. Now, our field of suspects has been narrowed down significantly by answering only a few questions: Who would have knowledge of the prototype?, Who would know the location of the warehouse?, and Who would gain from its possession?"

"Did you take into consideration that this might be an inside job?" asked the brunette.

"Yes, I did, Jenny, and that's why I want _you_ to check all the personnel files for the Foundation. Even our own. I want a list of all the people who would have knowledge and access to that prototype."

"Sure, Kyle. I'll get Dante to help me." 

"Great. Duke, I want you and the Attack Beast to stakeout the warehouse. Whoever took the CPU might come back for more."

"Now, come on! You know how I hate stakeouts! Besides, Beast will probably make me listen to Alanis Morissette again! I can't take 24 hours of Alanis!" protested the burly black man.

"Give it a rest, Duke, and take along some ear plugs," replied Kyle.

"Fine. But I'm telling you, I'm going against my will," he said pointing a finger at him.

Kyle looked at the other two who weren't getting along, "The rest of us will just have to sit tight until we have something to go on." He flipped through the folder and saw a memo he wanted to forget was there.

"Oh, yeah, and one more thing. The true father of our cars is also missing."

Trek choked on his gum and gasped, "You mean... _him_?! _The_ him?!" he rasped.

"Yes. K.I.T.T.: The Knight Industries Two Thousand is missing from an old junk yard in California," Kyle said gravely. 

Trek spoke up again, "They kept the most important piece of technology in our world in a _junk yard_?!"

"It was purely for security reasons," said Kyle. "Who would look for him there?"

"He's right," Erica said, "I wouldn't have looked for him there." Trek coughed and began to gasp. "Oh, please, Trek, give me a break, will you?" Erica sighed, rolling her eyes. She swung her arm and smacked him on the back, causing his gum to fly out of his mouth and onto Kyle's papers. Jenny and Duke snickered at the sight. 

"Gee... thanks," Trek said sarcastically, after a few deep breaths.

"No problem," Erica smiled, knowing she had gotten HIM for once.

Kyle flicked the gum at Trek and continued with his speech, "I know you two are gonna hate me for this, but I want you to go to the junk yard in California and do some quiet asking around. See if you can find out where Kitt may have gone."

Jenny swiveled in her chair, "You mean Kitt drove off himself?"

"Um, well..." Kyle cleared his throat and tugged on the front of his jumper, "He couldn't have. We, as in FLAG: The Foundation for Law and Government, stripped off his wheels and set him up on cinder blocks. We also, um, removed all the seats and the extra memory chips from his CPU, disconnected his voice transmission cable, as well as a few of the circuits that controlled some of his more dangerous functions."

"You put that incredible car in a filthy, disgusting junk yard and left him in a totally immobile and vegetative state?!" yelled Trek, who was very fond of the stories he had heard of this innovative machine.

"Well the Foundation didn't need him anymore and they felt that was the most secure place and condition to leave him in," Kyle stated calmly. 

Trek stood up and angrily slammed his fist on the table. Everyone looked at him. "I've heard enough. Erica? Let's go find Kitt." Trek spoke with anger growling in his throat and never took his scowling eyes off Kyle. He knew it was not Kyle who did this dastardly deed so many years ago, but he was their leader, and a leader has connections higher up. He could have done something about it. 

Erica stood up and obediently walked out the sliding door to the garage where their motorcycles were waiting. Trek turned and just as he was about to leave, Kyle spoke up, "Look, Trek, I didn't know what had happened until I was briefed this morning. If I had known..."

"Yeah, whatever," Trek said without turning. He left the room, and the door whooshed shut behind him. 

* * * * *

In the basement of a house several miles from the Foundation, a shrouded figure made slight adjustments to a black box with several wires sticking out of it. The box sat on a table littered with an assortment of wires and computer chips, and while the figure adjusted it with a soldering iron, small sparks of light flew from its interior.

Just then the entire setup began to hum and vibrate slightly. Tiny yellowish lights blinked on and then winked with life. They flickered in such a manner as to suggest they were the heartbeat of a monster that had just been brought back to life.


	4. Chapter Four: Startling New Discoveries

Chapter 4: Startling New Discoveries  
  


Keri blinked her eyes and stared at her surroundings. 

"How... how did I get into the car?" she asked aloud. She looked around the interior, and her eyes fell upon the sandwich lying on a small plate in the passenger side of the car. "Where did that come from? Oh, well. I'm too hungry to care," she grabbed the sandwich and hungrily wolfed it down. When she was finished, she sat huddled in her blanket for a while, absorbing its warmth. She was just about to close her eyes again, when she was startled by an unseen speaker.

"_Are you feeling better?_" the voice came from everywhere and nowhere. Keri looked around wide-eyed.

"Who are you? Where are you? How did you get in here?!" she asked slightly frightened. 

"_I am the Knight Industries Two Thousand, an experimental car of the future. And I'm here because you rescued me from that dreadful car graveyard_," the car's Boston accent was very noticeable. 

Keri stared in disbelief at the dash board. "But you're a car. Cars don't talk," she reasoned.

"_True, cars do not talk, but I do. I am the car of the future._"

"But you're a 1982 Pontiac! I don't mean to be rude, but you're ancient!" she said, remembering the car's make. 

The car paused for a minute, then said, "_True, I may be from the '80's, but I assure you, my dear, I have only the most advanced technology at my control._"

"Do you know what year this is?" she asked the obviously confused car. 

"_No, I'm afraid I don't. My internal clock went haywire when I was deactivated; therefore, I hardly had any perception of the passage of time._"

"It's the year 2015."

The car didn't say anything for quite a few minutes, then it finally spoke up again in a more quiet, subdued voice, "_Oh... oh my... I... had no idea. They left me sit there for over 13 years? They didn't come back for me? I don't understand, they said they would come back for me in only a few months. Why did they leave me sitting there for so long?_"

Keri looked guilty, even though she had nothing to do with it, "I'm so sorry. You must feel terrible."

"_Actually, I feel quite good, thanks to you. You pulled me out of oblivion, repaired my broken and disconnected circuits, and sucked out that horrible rat's nest that was clogging my intake valve. Did you know those brutes crawled into my circuitry and chewed on my poor wires?!_" he told her. "_I'm a delicate piece of equipment! Not a chew toy!_"

Keri smiled at the car, "I'm sorry about all the bad things that happened to you, but you're welcome."

"_Indeed_," he sounded happier now, "_But all that aside, can you help me find someone?_"

"Sure. Who?"

"_He was a very close friend of mine. He used to be my driver. His name is Michael Knight._"

"No problem. Let me get my old computer warmed up." She got out of the car and walked over to the counter. She removed a dusty white sheet from a large object and revealed a very sophisticated computer. "Activate," she spoke to it clearly. The computer clicked on and hummed, then a screen appeared containing various squares with words written on them. She touched the screen over the button marked "search". It blinked and brought up a menu. She touched the button on the screen called "personal". The computer then brought up a screen that asked her to say the name of the person being searched for.

"Michael Knight," she said clearly. The computer blipped and bleeped as it searched the internet for the name.

"I've got something," she told the car. It's engine started and he pulled up closely behind her to get a look at the screen. "I didn't know you could drive yourself," she said looking back at the car.

"_I can do many things_," he said.

"Mmm... Anyway... 'Michael Knight: Dubbed a hero of his time. He saved countless lives and corporations from destruction by criminals,'" she read aloud. "'He joined the Foundation for Law and Government in 1982 and continued with them until 1990. On February 2, 2000, he was called back to duty due to a critical situation with FLAG. A little more than a month later, he again retired to his house in the country. Height, weight, ... blah, blah, blah," she said trying to hasten the unneeded information. "'Date of birth, Date of... death: June 27, 2005,'" she said slowly. She turned and looked at the car who had said nothing. "I... I'm sorry, Car."

He sat there for a long while. He didn't move, he didn't speak. Apparently, it had been a great shock to him.

"Hello? Are you okay? Mr. Car?" she asked.

"_Yes... yes, I'm fine. It's quite a distasteful feeling. I was very fond of him. He would have been considered my best friend._"

"I'm sorry. Do you have anywhere you can go? Who do you belong to?"

"_Recent events have lead me to the conclusion that the Foundation has disowned me, so to speak. I, therefore, belong to no one at this time. I also have nowhere to go_," he said, the sadness showing through in his soothing voice.

"Well then," Keri said, shutting off the computer. "You'll just have to stay with me. That is, if you want to, you can."

"_Really?_" the car seemed to perk up, "_I can stay with you?_"

"Of course you can. I can't just kick you out of my home and tell you to go find someplace else. That would be extremely rude. Besides, I kind of like you. You seem to be pretty nice."

"_Thank you! Thank you so much! You won't regret this!_" the car said, happily.

Keri smiled and looked at the car. Suddenly she realized that she didn't know his name nor did he know hers.

"Hi," she said, formally introducing herself, "My name is Keri, what's yours?"

"_I am the Knight Industries Two Thousand, but you may call me Kitt for short_," the car replied.

"Kitt," she said, trying out the name, "I like it."

"_Thank you. Your name suits you as well... Keri._"


	5. Chapter Five: Searching

Chapter 5: Searching  
  


Not far away, in the junk yard where Kitt was formerly staying, a young couple got out of their strange-looking car. The car, actually two motorcycles joined together, shut off its own engine and waited patiently. 

Erica and Trek walked over to the junk yard guardhouse and began to question the attendant. 

"Excuse me, sir," said Trek, "But have you seen a black car around here lately?"

The guard smirked at him, "You want a car, huh? Well help yourself," said the man waving his arm toward the piles of smashed cars behind him. "Of course, it will need a little, heh-heh, _body work_. Hah-ha!"

"Ha... Ha. Very funny, Mr. Comedian," Trek said under his breath, then louder to the man, he said, "Uh, you seem to have misunderstood my question, sir. What I meant to say was, have you seen a fully intact black car drive out of here?"

"With or without a driver?" the man laughed.

"I am rapidly losing patience with this guy!" Trek whispered to Erica.

"Let me handle this," she whispered back. 

Trek covered his eyes with his hand and sighed, "Oh, brother, here we go." Erica straightened her tight-fitting jumper outfit and walked up to the laughing attendant.

"Oh, please help me, sir," she begged in a child-like voice. "If I don't find that car, I don't know what I'll do!"

The balding man stopped laughing and pushed up his dark plastic-rimmed glasses to take a better look at the striking woman. "Well, hello, my dear!" he said, totally forgetting about Trek. "Now, what can I do for _you_?"

Erica fluttered her eyelashes and spoke with a deep, sexy voice, "All I want to know is if you saw a black car drive out of here not too long ago."

"No, little lady, I'm sorry. I didn't see anything. But you know who you could ask?"

"Who?!" Erica and Trek said together.

The man leaned closer and said quietly, "That old wino that comes around her every once in a while. He might've seen something."

"Thanks for your help," muttered Trek.

"See ya, later," called Erica as she and Trek climbed back into their combo car. The engine, or rather _engines_ started, and they took off into the junkyard in search of the old wino.

* * * * *

Erica sighed and glanced out her side window. She saw what she'd seen for the past hour and a half: piles of old, rusted, useless metal. The scenery depressed her. She released her set of handle bars and slumped down toward the access panel of her motorcycle part of the combo-car. The motorcycle continued to steer without her. She stared at the panel in front of her. On it was a 3-dimensional picture of her motorcycle rotating. It would rotate two full turns, then stop and go back the other way in a seemingly endless cycle. The name "Kat" was neatly set in the upper left corner. Around the edges of the small monitor were small horizontal and vertical multicolored bars that showed the 'cycle's status. Trek's motorcycle was identical to hers except the name in the corner was "Plato". 

Erica drearily tapped a few buttons that lay around the small monitor. Each button she pushed let out a small _bleep_ noise and suddenly the two cabs of the combo-car were filled with loud rock music. 

"Ow! Turn that crap down! I can't make a sensible scan of the area!" yelled Trek, holding his ears and gesturing to his small monitor.

Erica grunted and turned down the music.

"Better?" she asked sarcastically.

"Much," he looked over. "What's your problem, anyway?"

She looked around at the scenery slowly moving past, "I can't stand this depressing landscape! I need Los Angeles! The buildings, the stores!"

"... The noise, the smog..." he continued for her. 

"Yeah, well, it's a lot better than this trash heap!" she said.

Trek looked around and then back to her. "Just think of these mountains of cars and metal as buildings. And the narrow dirt roads between them as streets in a city."

She looked around yet again, "It's not working!"

"Well get your mind off of it by doing some scans for awhile. I'm getting tired of scanning."

Erica sighed and rolled her eyes, "Fine." She pushed a few buttons on the panel again. This time the music stopped and a slight hum emanated from the cycle. "Nothing so far," she informed Trek. "Wait. I've got a lock on a heat source."

"Where?"

Erica pointed to a rather large stack of crushed metal, "Behind there."

Trek adjusted his gray helmet, "Okay, let's go." They gunned the engine and turned sharply around the metal tower. Immediately, they spotted a vagrant digging through the trunk of a totaled car. Alarmed by the noise of the car turning and kicking up the gravel and dirt road, the old man turned around. 

"Who the he...?!" he started to yell. When he saw the strange and vicious-looking car pointed toward him, he cowered. Dropping the tin can half full of rotting Spaghetti-O's, he turned and scampered away as fast as his legs would carry him. 

"He's running!" yelled Erica.

"I can see that," Trek said pushing some buttons. Suddenly, in a shower of sparks and light the combo-car split into two separate motorcycles! "You take the right, and I'll take the left!" Trek instructed Erica.

"But you always take the left! I want the left for once!" she said. 

"Go! _Now!_" he yelled.

"_Oooh_! I hate you!"

Trek continued forward, following the running old man, while Erica cut sharply to the right heading down a block of metal towers. Trek continued to chase the old man into the corner of the junk yard.

"Please! Leave me alone! I wasn't stealin' anything!" the old man called behind him. He looked back and saw he was still being pursued and tried to run even faster. He was about to turn around a pile of mashed TV's and stereo's to prevent being cornered, when he saw Erica speed around toward him at the far end of the trash block. Quickly, he turned around to run the other way, but saw Trek still following him. 

Now he was cornered. The old man had nowhere to go. He slumped down in the very corner of the junk yard and began to cry. Trek and Erica both slid to a stop a few feet away.

"The poor old guy," Erica said with pity, "He's crying."

Trek dismounted his motorcycle and pulled his gray riding helmet off. Stepping up to the man, he said, "Why did you run?" 

The ruffled old man looked at him through teary eyes, "I thought you were the cops. They're always tryin' to bust me. Say I've been stealin' stuff. But I wasn't. Elliot don't take stuff without askin'."

Trek looked over at his companion then back to the weeping man, "Uh... that's good that you don't steal, um, Elliot. But we're not the cops. We just wanna ask you some questions. Did you see a black car around here? It was in decent condition, but had no wheels or seats. Have you seen it?"

Elliot looked troubled, "You-you're not gonna turn me in, are ya?" 

"For what?" Erica asked. 

"Well," his eyes darted around trying to locate an escape route, "I kinda let a lady take it."

"You what?!" yelled Trek.

"I'm sorry! She hit me! She pushed me down! I couldn't get her away! She beat me up, then took the car! Elliot's sorry! He was taken by surprise! He didn't mean to let her have it!!" he shouted, panicking. 

Erica leaned over and whispered to Trek, "This guy's obviously a loon. We shouldn't take any of his information seriously."

"I know," he whispered back, "But maybe he can give us a lead?"

Trek looked at the man just now starting to wipe away his tears. "Do you know her name?

"Who?" he asked.

"The girl who took the car. Do you know her name?"

"I think it starts with a "K". "Karen" or "Katie", something like that. I see her round here all the time. She likes to dig in the trash like me. But she don't look for food or clothes, she looks for metal stuff. Stuff with wires so's she can fix it. Guess she liked the car 'cause she could maybe fix it."

Trek had a look of intrigue on his face, "Do you know where this girl lives?"

"Not too far from here," Elliot looked toward the west and pointed. "She lives in the woods over that way. She don't like populated places."

"How do you know all this stuff, Elliot?" asked Erica.

The old man looked at her with a gleam in his eye, "I just do, girlie." His flat, monotone answer sent a cold shiver down her spine. She didn't like this guy.

"Come on, Trek, we got all we need. Let's go." She grabbed his arm and tugged slightly. Trek hopped onto his cycle and began to pull on his helmet. Erica already had hers on and was ready to go.

"Well, thanks for your help, pal. Oh, and uh... sorry we scared ya like that. No hard feelings?"

The man stood there with his long, dusty black overcoat blowing slightly in the wind slowly shaking his head. The duo sped off in a cloud of dust and debris. He watched them leave, angered yet frightened at the same time. 

__

Oh, no, he thought. _Not only did I loose the car to that girl, but now someone else is after it!_ Then he remembered the logo on Erica's blue jumper. "T.K.R.? Oh, no! That was Team Knight Rider! They were lookin' for that car!" he bit his lip. "That means the boss will not like it. Not at all. I've got to get it back before those bozos do!" With that, the man took off toward Keri's house.


	6. Chapter Six: Searching Some More?

Chapter 6: Searching Some More?  
  


"Plato, do a scan. See if you can find the house that guy told us about," Trek said.

"_Roger wilco, boss!_" his motorcycle said in an over enthusiastic computerized voice.

They drove along a deserted highway. Their cycles were joined together again and were simply cruising along in no real hurry. The scenery was much more pleasant than the drab grays and browns of the junk yard. The thick forests along the road were already shedding their leaves in preparation of the coming winter. The woods seemed to come alive with bright colors. There were reds and yellows, purples and even a slight tint of blue in some of the leaves. Here and there an evergreen tree popped out of the foliage to greet passersby.

Erica took a deep breath and sighed. Yes, this was much better than that junk yard, and a lot better than their headquarters at Skywalker. Skywalker itself was nothing but desert, and the only air force part about it was once in a while the government parked their planes there. And their headquarters? Erica smirked. Their headquarters was just a very _large_ plane called Sky One. In it they had their briefing room, their sleeping quarters, and a big garage for their cars near the tail. And the cars. She had to admit, they were awesome. All of them talked with personalities all their own. She glanced at her motorcycle.

__

Why did I have to get the paranoid goodie two shoes one that's concerned only with rules and regulations? she thought.

"_Why are you looking at me like that?_" her cycle asked. "_Do I have a bug on my windshield?_"

Erica rolled her eyes behind the visor on her helmet, "No, Kat. Relax and keep scanning."

"_Are you sure?_" the wavering female voice asked.

"Quite. Keep scanning," she replied.

The next few minutes were passed quietly. The only sound heard was the steady drone of the motors. Plato finally broke the silence. 

"_I say, I say, boy! I done found that thar hacienda you were a lookin' fer_," he said with a rustic cowboy accent.

"Really?" Trek said. "Where?"

"_About half a mile down the road_," Kat replied. "_But the turnoff leads down a smaller road. A mile or so down that road is the house. Quite old fashioned, I should think._"

"Well, that old guy did say she didn't like populated areas," reminded Trek.

"_Ah'd take that with a grain 'o salt_," Plato said with an Illinois accent.

"What did he say?" asked Erica.

Trek shook his head, "He means he doesn't trust that guy."

"I don't blame him," she said quietly. She didn't know why, but she thought there was something more to that guy than meets the eye.  
  
  
  
* * * * *  
  
Sorry so short this time! Keep going though! It gets pretty good next scene! ^_^


	7. Chapter Seven: Discovered

Chapter 7: Discovered  
  


"Does it work?" Keri asked.

"_Does what work?_" Kitt replied.

"Your holographic projector. Does it work?"

"_Yes, it works very well. You are good with technology, my dear._" 

"Let me see it."

Keri rested her elbows on Kitt''s roof and looked over it. In about the only clear space left in the garage, a flickering image appeared, then solidified. Keri stared wide eyed at the man.

"It works... I can't believe it works," she whispered.

The blonde man looked down at the ground, allowing his semi-long thick hair to fall over his eyes, and put his hands behind his back. 

"I was the one who put you in the car. And I was the one who made you the sandwich, too. I hope you aren't angry with me."

"Why would I be angry? Thank you for doing that for me." Keri walked over to the image and stared at him for a moment. She threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. Kitt looked down at her confused, but wrapped his arms around her as well.

She looked up at him and said, "Oh, Chris, I've missed you so much. Promise you'll never leave me again?"

Kitt was even more confused than ever, "Who's Chris?"

Now Keri was confused, "You are."

"I don't mean to disappoint you, but I'm Kitt remember? The car?" 

Keri stepped away, "Oh, yes, of course. I'm sorry. I was just overwhelmed. I haven't seen Chris in so long, and you look like him now and... " she trailed off.

"Who's Chris?" he softly repeated.

She turned around and stared at the wall. "Chris was my boyfriend. I loved him more than anything in the world. Then, one day he was... gone." 

"I'm so sorry. He left you."

"No, he died." She looked down at the floor, pulling the blanket that was wrapped around her up closer to her face.

Kitt tried to think of what he could do. Finally, he walked up behind her and put his hand on her shoulder. "Loosing a loved one hurts. I know that personally now. But soon all you remember are the good things."

"But why does it have to hurt so bad?" she whimpered.

Kitt thought, "With all the good, there must come some bad. And the pain just reminds us of our humanity."

Keri turned around and stared into Kitt's large blue eyes. He noticed tears welling up in her deep violet eyes. She sniffled and walked into his arms.

"I just miss him so much."

Kitt hugged her against himself, then leaned down and kissed her forehead. He took his thumb and wiped away her tears.

"You should really go get something to eat," he said, quietly. "All you had was that sandwich. You should get some rest as well. You look exhausted."

Keri put a hand to her mouth as she yawned. "You're right, Kitt. Thanks." She hugged him tightly one more time then walked to the front of the cluttered garage with her blanket gently flowing behind her. She pulled it up closer to her face and pushed aside the large blue tarp she had hung over the gaping hole in her garage.

She looked back before she left, "Good night, Kitt. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow, then," he replied. Keri turned and left. The holographic image disappeared again, and the garage was silent.

* * * * *

Keri walked slowly, quietly humming to herself, when a strange car pulled up to the front of her house. She walked even slower and narrowed her eyes when she saw two uniformed people exit the strange machine. They walked up to her front door and knocked. Apparently they hadn't noticed her. She walked over and cleared her throat.

"*_ahem_* May I help you?" she asked.

Startled, the two looked down over the banister. The man spoke up first.

"Yes, do you live here?"

"I do," she said warily.

"Is your name Kamie?" the woman asked.

"No, it's Keri. Who are you?"

"We're from the Foundation for Law and Government. We're looking for a car that was reported missing from the junk yard a few miles from here. Do you know anything about it?"

"No. I haven't seen a car," she lied. "Who would take a car from a junk yard?" 

"We have reason to believe you assaulted an old man to get this car. Are you sure you don't know anything?" Trek said, raising an eyebrow.

Keri stared at them a moment, considering the situation. She didn't want to give up that car. _I took him home, I fixed him up, he's _mine_! There's no way they're gonna take him away from me!... Not again._ The more she thought about it, the more determined she became. Suddenly, she dropped her blanket and took off toward the garage.

"He's in the garage! Quick, Kat, stun her!" Erica yelled.

"I don't harm human lives," Kat said flatly.

"Plato! Do something!" Trek yelled as he jumped down from the porch to chase the fleeing girl. On Plato's display screen a target cross hairs appeared on Keri. 

"_Okey dokey, boss!_" he said in yet another of his strange accents. The sound of a gun being shot with a silencer emanated from the front of the motorcycle. Keri went limp and fell to the ground about twenty feet from the garage.

Suddenly a voice screamed from behind the blue tarp.

"_NOOO!_" An engine roared and the black car burst through the tarp in reverse. It turned it's back end around Keri to block her pursuer. Now the car was parked catty-cornered between Keri and Trek and revved its engine menacingly. The pacing red light in the front looked like the darting eye of a crazed demon, ready to plow over anyone who dared to tamper with him.

"_Back off!_" the car demanded.

Trek blinked. He couldn't believe what he saw. The car. The car he had heard so many wonderful stories about was threatening him!

"_Leave her ALONE!_" Kitt yelled.

Trek finally regained his composure. "Uh... we didn't hurt her. We just knocked her out for a few minutes. She'll be fine, really!" he said trying to appease the car.

"_I heard you talking. What do you want with me?_" Kitt asked, still on his guard.

"We're with the Foundation. We're here to take you back with us." 

"_NO! The Foundation left me in that junk yard because they didn't want me anymore. They disowned me. But Keri found me. I belong to her now, and I will NOT leave her!_"

Erica finally walked up and joined Trek, five feet from the car's front end. She looked at Trek and winked. 

"But, Kitt," she said in that child-like voice again, "It's obvious you're still damaged from that horrible junk yard incident! Please, come back with us and we'll help you," she paused a moment and walked forward. She placed her hand on Kitt's hood and rubbed it slightly, "_I'll_ help you, Kitt."

Kitt's engine roared and he lurched forward slightly and stopped. Erica jumped and ducked behind Trek for protection. 

"_I am not tempted by human females!_" he growled. "_Go away! I'm not coming with you! I'm staying with Keri!_"

Behind Kitt's bumper Keri began to stir. She blinked her eyes and looked around. She was lying face down in the damp, cold grass, shivering. She felt a thudding pain on her back from where the vibrations of the stun mechanism had hit her. A light moan escaped her mouth as the pain worsened for a moment.

"_Keri?_" Kitt asked. He backed up around her so he was parked beside her. "_Are you all right?_"

She slowly sat up and the pain from her back moved to her head. Touching her temple and swaying slightly, she took hold of the open passenger window and pulled herself up.

"What hit me?" she asked.

"_They did_," Kitt responded angrily, then more concerned he asked, "_How do you feel? Do you need a doctor? My scanners aren't functioning properly, so I can't tell._"

"I'm okay, Kitt," Keri said as she patted his roof. "What's been going on?" She looked at the two standing there. "Who are you? And what do you want with me?"

Trek stepped forward to speak, but stopped and backed up when Kitt revved his engine.

"My name is Trek Sanders and this is Erica West. As I said before, we are from the Foundation for Law and Government. We've come to take Kitt back with us to repair his systems."

"I'm not letting you take him!" she said angrily. "I brought him home fair and square. He's mine now, so get lost!"

"_Yes, please leave_," said Kitt.

"But you don't understand. If all of his systems aren't fixed, what good will he be to you? Eventually all of his programs will shut off or break down and he'll be nothing but, pardon the term, a useless hunk of metal!"

Kitt broke in before Keri could respond, "_You know, he does have a point there. All of those things will happen if I am not properly taken care of. Perhaps we should go with them. They could teach you all you need to know about me, and, therefore, you could take better care of me._" 

"I don't know, Kitt," Keri whispered. "Do you think we can trust them?"

"_They do seem sincere._"

Keri thought for a moment. Every time she asked herself a question, her head hurt even worse.

"All right," she said to them finally, "But we're _both_ coming with you. Got it?"

"No problem!" said Trek. He looked into Keri's eyes and saw the headache she was having, "I'm sorry we shot you, but you were running and we needed that car."

"Why?"

"Sorry, that's classified information. Perhaps we'll be able to tell you when we get back to Sky One."

"Sky One? Where and what is that?" she asked. 

Trek looked toward the southeast, "That way. It's our headquarters."

Keri turned to Kitt after Trek and Erica walked back to their bikes, "This is starting to sound like one of those stupid, cheesy, syndicated TV shows.

"_I haven't seen one of those in years_," Kitt said longingly.

Behind a tree of the far side of Keri's property, stood the old man, watching the events as they were unfolding. When he saw Keri get into the black car and drive off after the car that chased him in the junk yard, he whimpered.

"Oh, man, the boss is definitely not gonna like this."


	8. Chapter Eight: Evil Rears It's Ugly Head

Chapter 8: Evil Rears It's Ugly Head

  
  
In the strange high-tech basement of the shrouded figure, loud sounds of drilling and sanding floated about the empty house above. 

Over the din of the noise a deep ominous voice stated, "_Stop that infernal racket! Someone is approaching!_"

The sanding stopped and the figure stepped forward slightly. The door on the far side of the basement slowly creaked open. An aging man wearing a long black trench coat peeked through the crack. 

"B-Boss?" he asked, the fear showing through in his voice.

"Yes? Come forward, Elliot."

The man pushed the door open the rest of the way and stepped inside.

"What have you to report?" asked the hidden figure.

"Well, sir, I-uh-gots good news and I gots bad news," he said, twiddling his fingers. 

"I am in a good mood, Elliot. Do not put me in a bad one."

"I'll try, sir. Um... w-well the good news is I found that other car you was lookin' for."

"Aaaannd?"

"The b-bad news is... *_gulp_* ...I sorta... let someone take it, and now that Foundation has it," he cringed waiting to be hit, but the strike never came. He heard the breathing of his leader increase dramatically and with each breath he exhaled, he growled.

"You... _what_!?!"

Elliot spread his hands apologetically, "I'm sorry, boss! The girl hit me! She beat me up! I was no match for her!"

"You _fool_!" he screamed, "Who took it?!"

"Some lady. Name's Kelly or something."

"Where does she live?"

"A few miles from the junk yard, in the woods. But she's not there any more. She followed a couple of those T.K.R. people in the black car." 

"How could you allow the car we needed to be taken by a _woman_?!" the man said, getting back on the subject of betrayal.

"I thought she was hot, so I _let_ her beat me up!" Elliot clapped his hand to his mouth. "_Oops._"

The shrouded figure stepped into the light. He wore a dirty white tank top and torn greasy jeans. His light gray eyes sparkled with anger. The muscles in his arms and neck were bulging and his veins looked like they'd pop out of his skin. His fingers were balled into a fist and when he spoke he sounded like a man possessed.

"How _dare_ you talk back to me!" he roared. "You are becoming more of a burden than you are worth!"

"_Then DO something about it_," came a deep voice from nowhere.

"Yes," the muscular man said calmly, but his eyes were still wildly staring at Elliot. "I think I will." He reached down and picked up the cordless drill he had used on the car body he was rebuilding.

"N-now boss! Please! Don't do nothin' you'd regret!" Elliot pleaded.

"Trust me... I won't." He began to laugh while he backed Elliot through the door he had entered. The door slammed behind them and from the other side came the muffled sounds of screams and the drill drilling through bone. After a few minutes the screaming died down and finally stopped. The door opened and the man stepped into the basement, blood dripping from the drill bit and splashed all over his clothes. He walked over to the dismantled body of the car and began to drill a hole where a bolt was to be placed. He grinned happily as the bit dug deeper and deeper into the metal and spun blood across the primer painted body.


	9. Chapter Nine: New Treds and Bad Guys Rev...

Chapter 9: New Treds and Bad Guys Revealed  
  


SKYWALKER AIR FORCE RANGE  
INSIDE SKY ONE  
5:23 P.M. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2065

Keri listened tentatively as a technician pointed out various components and parts of Kitt's engine and explained their purpose and function. She had already learned everything else about the car and was now going over the motor. 

"What's this?" asked the technician.

Keri looked at what he was pointing at. "Oh, that's a hologram projector I installed."

"What is it supposed to do for him?" he asked, scratching his head. 

Keri stood up straight and crossed her arms, smirking she remarked, "Why don't you show the man what it does, Kitt?"

Beside the driver's side door of the car, it appeared as though the background was wavering, then the form of a man took shape. He looked at the technician and gave him a "what do you think of that?" look.

"Incredible!" the technician gushed. "I've never seen the like! A completely interactive, fully detailed,... " he walked over and poked at Kitt's slight muscle, "and _solid_ holographic projection!" The man turned to Keri, "How did you do it?!"

"Easy," she blew on her fingernails and buffed them on her T-shirt sleeve, "I invented it."

Trek, who had heard the whole conversation while doing some modifications to Plato, jogged over.

"You invented this?" he asked, pointing to Kitt.

"Yep."

"Listen, if we had similar projectors installed into our cars, then they could help us out in tight situations. Please, tell me how you did it, and say we can use your technology?"

Keri put a finger to her lip and rolled her eyes upward, "_Wee-eelll_... I don't know. I usually don't give out my designs to everyone I meet. But... you have an honest face. Tell ya what I'm gonna do... " she said slowly, "I'll give you my designs if you fix Kitt up good, I mean _real_ good. Deal?"

"Deal," Trek said quickly. And they shook hands on the agreement. 

Within hours they had five more of the projectors made, and were installing them into the cars. Attack Beast was finished first.

"Go ahead, Beast, try it out," Trek said.

He activated the device and a very handsome, rugged man appeared in front of the grill of the truck. He had brownish-blonde hair, dark green eyes, and was skinny but muscular at the same time. He was wearing a tight fitting gray T-shirt and regular jeans with plain brown boots. The hologram looked down at himself and gasped.

"Hey! What did you do to me?! I'm... I'm _human_!!" he exclaimed. 

"Don't worry," Keri said as she slapped Beast on the back, "You'll get used to it, besides, there are a lot of advantages to being human. In the mean time, it's not permanent, you're just a hologram."

"_And a cute one at that_," Domino, Jenny's red Mustang Convertible purred.

Beast walked over and looked in a mirror.

"Hey, you're right. I can't wait until Jenny sees me. She won't be able to resist me now."

Keri walked over to Domino and connected more wires to her projector. 

"_He'll never notice me_," Domino said sadly.

"Don't be so sure," Keri said as she connected the last wire. "Go for it. Hey Beast, look here!"

Beast looked over just as Domino's holographic form appeared. She was sleek and slender with light brown hair and sparkling brown eyes. All of her hair was tucked behind her ears except two long strands that hung down on each side. She wore a form fitting, light blue T-shirt and jeans. She gave herself a quick once over, then meekly looked at Beast.

Keri could swear she saw hearts floating in the air above his head. 

"I never thought I'd see the day when those two cars fell in love," Trek said. "But look at 'em."

Across the room, Beast held out his hand and a holographic bouquet of roses appeared in it. He handed them to Domino who ripped them out of his hand, smelled them gratefully, and jumped up and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Too bad I don't have luck like that," Keri said.

"How did you make their appearances?" Trek asked, changing the subject.

"Well, I just listened to their voices and thought of an image to match the voice. And I have to tell you something, making an image for Plato was the hardest."

"I can imagine. Let's finish installing the projectors, I'm hungry," Trek said.

Soon all the holographic projectors were installed, and they were all being tested. Five holograms walked around touching equipment, jumping around, and doing just about everything they could not do before.

Kyle walked into the large garage and watched the chaos for a moment. When he realized something was severely different about something, he walked over to Keri.

"Hi. Uh... who are they?" he asked.

"Don't you know your own cars when you see them?" she asked. "You're Kyle, right?"

He nodded, "Yes, that's me. What do you mean, 'my own cars'?"

"Trek and I installed holographic projectors in all the cars. Those five people are holograms coming from the them."

"Amazing, where did you get them?"

"I made them."

"You're pretty handy with a screwdriver, I'd bet."

"You'd be surprised," she said, raising an eyebrow. "So, what am I doing here in this big plane, anyway?"

Kyle cleared his throat, "Well, first of all I'd like to thank you for bringing Kitt back to us. We really needed him."

"So I've been hearing. But what I'd like to know is _why_ do you need him?" 

"Well, we usually make it a rule not to divulge information to outsiders, but since you own Kitt now, I guess you have the right to know." He paused a moment. "The prototype for Kitt's CPU has been stolen from one of our warehouses. It has a major program error in it, and if it is reconnected to any vehicle, it could be a threat to the whole nation."

"A computer that can dominate the whole country? I doubt it," she said, unbelieving.

Kyle crossed his arms, "Believe what you will, but if that thing is in the wrong hands, we're all in big trouble."

Kitt walked over to the two and listened for a moment. Suddenly he realized just who they were talking about.

"_Karr_. I haven't heard that name in years. I never thought I'd see him again. I destroyed him almost a century ago. What is he doing back?" the hologram said more to himself than anyone else.

"Revenge?" Keri pointed out.

"Mmm..." Kitt hummed, thoughtfully. 

From across the room a voice called out, "Kyle? I've got something."

Kyle looked away from Keri and saw his teammate, Jenny, entering the room and walking up to his supped-up light gray Ford Expedition. He walked over and leaned against the door. 

"What have you got, Jenny?" he asked.

Jenny smirked, "First, let's talk about the payroll. I think Dante and I are getting paid too little for the work we do. Have you ever tried to find one person in a whole data bank full of people? It's not easy, is it, Dante?"

A distinguished man in his mid-thirty's walked up to them. He wore a white turtle neck and khakis. His thick blonde hair was combed neatly and his light blue eyes seemed to give him wisdom beyond his years.

"No. You should really try it sometime, Kyle. Perhaps you'd see our situation and raise our salary just a tad," the hologram said. 

Jenny stared wide eyed at him. 

Kyle touched his forehead and sighed, "Look guys, we've gone over this before. Jenny, I expected something like this from Erica, but you? You know about the budget cuts due to lack of funding, and Dante? You don't even _need_ money, you're a _computer_!"

"Sorry, Kyle. Jenny asked me to put up a fight for her," Dante said, gracefully pronouncing each word with his slightly deep British accent. 

"Mmm," Kyle hummed, looking at Jenny. "Please give up on the pay checks for now and tell me what you've found. And please note, Dante, that I'm taking this whole hologram thing quite well at the moment, but I can't tell you how I'll be in a few hours."

"Um... you take this one, Dante," Jenny said.

"Thank you so much, Jenny," he said sarcastically. To Kyle he said, "We searched all the files in the foundation and found this person... " A display screen in the cab of the Expedition flickered with life and the picture of a brown-haired man with light gray eyes and a square-set jaw appeared. To the right and below his picture was a long record of his history.

"His name is Damien Steele. Only son to Harold and Marci Steele. Age: 45. Height: 5' 10". Weight: 185 pounds. He worked for the Foundation until he was fired for unnecessary torture of the people he was assigned to bring down. His favorite tactics were to use anything that was handy, preferably something mechanical. He especially liked... "

Kyle waved his hand, "Uh, that's okay, Dante, I don't need the details. Tell me why he's such a good suspect."

"He's not just _a_ suspect, he is _the_ suspect. His record reports that he is a mechanical genius. He can repair, build, or manipulate anything from a toaster to all the computers that control the New York Stock Exchange. _That_ is a lot. It also states that he was very interested in the prototype CPU code named K.A.R.R. He wanted to get his hands on it to get it operational again, but the Foundation wouldn't hear of it.

"When they found all the evidence of his evildoings they needed, the Knight Foundation imprisoned him for five consecutive life terms. He was never heard from again."

"Until now?" asked Kyle.

"Yes. Police reports show he's recently escaped from San Quentin Penitentiary. And now the prototype is gone. Coincidence? I don't think so," Dante finally finished.

"Good work, Jenny, Dante. You just might get that raise after all. Do you know where he's hiding out?" said Kyle, placing his hands together. 

"We have reports of a stolen credit card registered to one BJ Karns being used in various Radio Shacks, Electronics Boutiques, and Auto Zones throughout the state of California. Mostly in the lower region. We've pinpointed a town where a rather large number of purchases was made. It's the small town of Dinuba."

"Hmm... " Kyle thought aloud, "A small town in the middle of nowhere. The perfect hiding place. Yet he's flashing that card around everywhere. Why would he try to give himself away like that?"

"Maybe he _wants_ us to find him. He may be feeling very proud of himself right now, and he feels confident that he could defeat us if it came to it," reasoned Jenny. Kyle looked at her. "Well, wouldn't you?" He raised his eyebrow and nodded.

"All right you two, very good work," he complimented. "Let's relocate to California. From there we'll be able to track down Steele."

From across the room, Plato yelled, "Let's kick the tires, and light the fires, big daddy!" He got strange looks all around. All the brown haired, teenaged-like man could do was shrug his shoulders and continue doing his cartwheels.

Kyle called the captain and made arrangements to fly to Fresno, California, just thirty miles from Dinuba. When he was done, he glanced over to Keri, who was receiving operating instructions from the technician again. He inhaled sharply and walked over to them. 

"Uh, Keri? Can I talk to you for a second?" he said running his hand through his short blond hair.

"What?" she asked, not looking up from Kitt's engine.

"Well, I hope you don't mind, but we're relocating to Fresno, California." Keri looked up from a turbine. "I'd understand if you didn't want to go. You're welcome to stay and catch a commuter flight back to Edgewood. But I'm asking you to come with us. We need Kitt as well as you. You are the only one who knows how to operate him now, and we can't send Ray here out into the field, can we, Ray?"

The technician looked up and gave a small laugh. "I don't get paid enough, sir."

Kyle smiled and looked back to Keri, "See? We need you. Please... come with us?" He looked like he was begging.

Keri looked at him and could not help but smile. 

__

Why not? she thought. _I'm still on vacation, and this might prove to be exciting._ She waited a moment to watch the tension build up in Kyle, then said, "Okay. I guess I could go. Say, uh, do I get a pay check for this?"

Kyle quickly searched his mind for an answer.

"Um, sorry, you're doing volunteer work," he said rapidly, then ran off to locate Duke and the Beast.

Keri smiled, shook her head, and returned to Kitt's engine.


	10. Chapter Ten: End Of A Very Long Day… New...

Chapter 10: End Of A Very Long Day New Team Members!  
  


FRESNO, CALIFORNIA AIRPORT  
8:53 A.M. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2065

The plane's engines roared as the pilot throttled back and began to land. It bounced off the ground twice then slowly coasted toward, and parked by, the communications tower.

After a few minutes, the back end of the gigantic plane slowly opened and lowered toward the ground, forming a ramp up into the hollow body. One by one, the vehicles filed out of their portable garage. The Beast was the last one out and the first to complain.

"_Where the hell are we? Mayberry?_" his husky voice said in disgust.

"_Sheriff Taylor and I are goin' fishin' this afternoon, wanna come along?_" said Plato, giving his best Don Knotts impression.

"_Very funny, Plato_," said Beast.

"Now, now, guys, let's not fight," Trek cut in.

The cars began to pull out onto the highway. Kyle and Dante were in the lead followed by Keri in Kitt, Jenny in Domino, Duke in the Beast, and finally Erica and Trek in their combo-car.

Kyle's voice broke into each vehicle, "Okay, people, we're doing this the old fashioned way. You each have a photo and description of Damien Steele. Now, I want you all to split up and ask everyone you see about him. Don't exclude children, they sometimes see more than adults do. Keri, you stay with me. The rest of you have your assignments, get going."

Each car in turn pulled off onto a side road leading down to a small business district. Only Kyle and Keri remained on the main street.

"Kitt?" Kyle's voice sounded in the car, "I understand your systems are fully functional?"

"_Yes_," replied Kitt.

"Can you locate any emanations from Karr? You _do_ know what they would be, right?"

"_Indeed I do, but I'm not getting anything. I can only pick up traces from the vehicle Karr is installed in, not the CPU itself. And since his original body was the only one I could trace, I'm afraid I'm of no real value to you._"

Keri squirmed in her seat, "Why are we out here anyway? Can't you just use one of your fancy government gadgets to find this guy? I mean, we could be out here all day and find nothing!" She stared out Kitt's window at the road in front of her. _Maybe I should've stayed and gone home. I didn't realize it would be so... dull_, she thought.

"_Kyle_," Dante broke the silence, "_I'm detecting a concentrated amount of electrical activity ahead._"

"Where?" Kyle said, trying to see it for himself.

"_Just ahead on the left. It's a red brick house._"

Kyle looked around in disgust, "Almost _all_ of them are red brick!" 

"_I see it too!_" Kitt blurted out. "_It's the third house on the left. And it's not electrical activity. Someone or something is generating an electrical field. My sensors can't penetrate it._"

Suddenly, a shiny black Trans Am bolted from the house's driveway, skidded onto the road, and took off away from Kyle and Keri.

"_That's him!_" Kitt yelled. "_Let's go!_"

Kyle tromped on the gas and floored it. Quickly, he pressed a button on Dante's high-tech dash and yelled, "We've got him! Converge on my coordinates!"

From throughout the entire neighborhood, the sounds of screeching tires could be heard as all the vehicles made drastic U-turns. From every other side road, a car darted onto the highway, joining the chase. Tires squealed and engines roared as they followed the sleek black car down the road.

"_Look out!_" Dante yelled, as he swerved to the other side of the road. Two rockets flared from the back end of the car and streaked toward the others. Dante swerved out of the way just in time. Kitt began to swerve, but one of the rockets exploded on his right headlight, leaving a very slight dent and gray ashes spread along his hood. The other rocket missed and caught a tree at the end of the road, blowing it to a splintery pile of firewood.

"Whoa!" Keri said, directing Kitt back into the right lane. "Are you okay, Kitt?"

"_I'm fine. But I don't want to take another blow like that._"

Kyle's voice came through the speaker again, this time directed to one car, "Beast... sic 'em!"

"_I thought you'd never ask_," came the husky voice of the black truck.

All the cars again moved into the other lane as Duke hammered the gas and the Beast tore down the road at full speed.

Damien looked into his rear view mirror. "Those fools! Do they think they can actually defeat us?" he gloated.

"_Shall we show them who's boss?_" asked the dash board.

"We shall." 

Two more rockets, fired from the strange black car, bounded for the Beast who easily dodged them. He quickly counter attacked with two rockets of his own. Unfortunately, the car swerved out of the way. 

"Come on, people!" Kyle said. "We're destroying more of the town than we are of the bad guys!" He looked around. Fortunately, there were no civilians on the streets at the moment.

Beast's voice broke through the noise of the engines, "_I'm gonna ram him!_"

Duke's mouth dropped open and his eyes grew big as saucers, "What! Hey, I didn't say...!"

"_Do you want this guy taken down or NOT?_" Beast cut in. "_If we're gonna do it, we're gonna do it NOW! Don't worry, you'll be fine. I think._"

"Oh, you _think_ do you?! Well _I'm_ driving, and I say _no way_!"

"_WHO'S driving?_" Beast asked, slyly.

Duke looked at the wheel he was holding and jerked at it slightly. It did not budge. He glared at the dash.

"Let it go, Beast!" Duke tried to coax.

The truck began to accelerate.

"Come on, let it go!"

The tail end of the car was approaching faster and faster.

"Beast _no_!"

The truck crashed into the back of the black car, mangling its bumper and taillights and sending a spider web crack up the rear window. The Beast, however, was left undamaged.

"Ow, my neck!" Duke whined, uncharacteristically. "I think I have whiplash!"

"_Quit whining, you baby. How do you think I feel? My grill hurts!_" 

The car skidded and weaved around but soon regained its traction.

"_I have been damaged!_" Karr said, angrily. "_You said my body was made of reinforced steel alloys. If it was, my bumper would not be dragging behind me._"

Damien glanced behind him, "So I lied. Big deal. As soon as we get away from these clowns, we'll go see about fixing you up good. But for now, let's get out of here!"

Karr rambled on, "_I have been told many things in the past, Damien. Almost all of them have been lies. I will not tolerate being lied to again. The next time you do, they will not be able to find your body._"

Damien stepped on the gas, trying to gain speed and outrun his followers.

"Are you threatening me?"

"_That was not a threat_," Karr said, flatly, "_That was a promise._" 

Damien swallowed hard. He knew what Karr was capable of, and knew how much he liked to do it. Karr was the equivalent of a homicidal madman. If some_thing_ stood in his way, he would blow through it. If some_one_ stood in his way, he would mow them over. Damien did not want to think about what Karr might do to him, so he pushed the pedal all the way to the floor and pulled away from his pursuers.

"No! He's getting away!" Jenny yelled. "Now we'll never catch him."

"We may not be able to catch him," Keri reasoned, "But we can still shoot at him. Everyone direct your lasers at his right rear wheel, and fire on my signal..." She paused for a moment, "_Fire!_"

From the front of every car shot a thin red beam. They all converged on one spot on Karr's back tire. Within seconds the tire exploded and the car began to throw sparks from the metal hub dragging on the ground. Pieces of rubber flew back and bounced off Domino's windshield. 

"_Eww, that's disgusting! I expect a full wash and wax when this is all over_," she said in her deep, seductive voice.

"He's starting to loose control," Erica observed.

Karr swayed from side to side, throwing sparks and chunks of metal and rubber.

"_Not having a fourth wheel is hindering my ability to regain proper traction_," said Karr, increasing the loudness of his voice. "_We are going to crash._"

Karr's back end swiveled around and he started to skid sideways. The speed at which he was traveling was too great for going sidelong, resulting in the car flipping over several times, scattering shards of glass and metal all over the road. It finally came to a rest smashed against a tree in someone's yard.

Damien looked up and tried to focus his eyes. When he saw how severely mangled Karr was, he decided to ditch his failed attempt to resurrect him.

He started to pound on the T-top above him. He would have used the door, though, if it wasn't wrapped around the tree. The T-top finally gave way and popped open. Damien started to climb out.

"_Wait, please, where are you going? You have to help me_," came the crackled, garbled voice of Karr. His voice seemed to convey pain and half consciousness.

Damien looked back, "Sorry, Karr, I really am. But it's not like I can pick you up and carry you with me."

"_But... _"

"See ya 'round," he said and jumped up through the roof. He slid off the crunched car and began to run away.

"_I... do not think so_," Karr fought to spit out the words, "_I am NOT taking the blame for all this._" He searched his inventory. The only operable weapon left was his grappling hook. He aimed and fired, wrapping the hook around Damien's legs and pulling him to the ground. He struggled to release himself, but it was no use, the rope was twisted too tight.

Just then Team Knight Rider came to a screeching halt in the yard next to Karr.

"_Hog tie that little heifer!_" exclaimed Plato.

"Hey, look at that!" said Trek, "I guess the good guys caught the bad guys."

Erica leaned over, "You mean the _bad guys _caught the gad guys."

Trek looked again and saw Damien struggling at the end of the rope connected to Karr like a worm on a hook.

"Hmmm... you're right," he said.

Erica gazed over at Trek, "Really?" She was shocked he had admitted being wrong.

"Yeah."

Kyle ran over and restrained Damien while Duke worked on the grappling hook.

Keri walked over to the mangled body of Karr and placed her hand on his dented hood.

"So _you're_ the famous original prototype of all these cars. How does it feel to be brought down by the younger generation?"

"_Not very good_," Karr said slowly. "_Quite painful, actually._"

"You feel pain?" she said, interested.

"_Yes. Very much so_," his voice sounded as if he was almost grimacing. "_Please, make it stop hurting._"

Keri shook her head, "I'm not sure I know how to do that."

"I do," said Kyle, walking over. "Deactivate him before he hurts anyone else."

Keri put up her hand, "Wait, Kyle, look at him. He's obviously not going anywhere. Let me take him. I'll reprogram him to be more caring for human lives. _Please?_"

Kitt pulled up beside Karr, "_I agree with her, if we reprogram him to respect human lives above his own, he will be more agreeable._"

Kyle rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "What do you have to say about all this, Karr. It's your choice, deactivation or being reprogrammed?"

"_Since my dominant programming insists that I not be harmed, I believe the most painless way to proceed is to be reprogrammed_," Karr said, slowly pronouncing every word as if they were his last, "_Although I detest this idea... perhaps... perhaps it will be better... I... I do not care anymore. But I have just one request..._ "

Kyle shrugged, "What?"

"_Please, do not lie to me. I have been lied to most of my life, and I am tired of it. I will let you do anything you want to do to me, as long as you do not lie._"

"I think that's a fair deal," said Kyle, nodding his head.

Just then the owner of the house ran outside in a T-shirt and boxers, swearing like there was no tomorrow.

"What the hell do you think you're _doin'_?! Get off of my God-damn property before I call the cops!"

Duke walked by, pushing Damien in front of him, "We _are_ the cops," he said flatly and shoved Steele into Dante's passenger seat.

"Who's gonna clean up all this mess?!" yelled the man.

Trek patted him on the back, "I'm sure you'll figure something out. Have a nice day, sir."

Across the way, Kyle stepped up to Keri.

"Thank you."

"For what?" she asked, not looking up from Karr. 

"For helping us apprehend Steele and getting Karr under control. It took a lot of courage to do that."

"You're welcome, then," she smiled.

"_Of course, the car gets no recognition for his work_," said Kitt. 

Kyle grinned, "I get the hint, thank you, Kitt. Without you we would have certainly lost."

"_That's better._"

Keri laughed.

Kyle turned to her, "In fact, you did so well, I'm going to ask you to stay on with us."

Keri was taken aback, "You want _me_ to join Team Knight Rider? Are you sure?"

"I was never more sure."

"I... I don't know what to say."

"_Say yes_," Kitt offered.

She thought a moment, then asked, "Will I get to play with machinery and the cars?"

"Absolutely."

"Well then," she looked at the ground as if she was afraid of telling Kyle what she wanted to say, "I guess my answer would have to be a resounding 'yes'."

Kyle smiled and shook her hand, "Welcome aboard."

"Thanks."

Kyle turned toward the others, "People? I'd like you to welcome our new team member... Keri." 

Everyone cheered and Keri beamed.

"_What about me?_" Kitt asked. "_And Karr? What about us?_"

"_Yes_," Karr said weakly, "_I declare that Keri is my new owner now, and wherever she goes, I go._"

"_Same here_," said Kitt.

"Of course. You two are on the team as well. We couldn't leave you behind."

"_Good_," Kitt said. "_You hear that, Karr? We're part of a family again._"

"_I... do not know what to say. Thank you, all of you._"

Keri pulled Kyle aside and asked, "So, now that I'm an official team member... do I get paid for today?"

Kyle looked at her and for the first time in a long while, he laughed.

END


End file.
